The smell of fresh tortillas being made always brings memories flooding back for Chef Gabriel Pulido: watching his mom pressing the tortillas by hand, enjoying comfort foods like eggs with chorizo, taking a bite of fresh salsa or devouring one of those homemade tortillas with a little butter.
Pulido and his lifelong friend, John Beck, opened Masa y Taza a couple of weeks ago on Fourth Street, hoping to bring Long Beach the same comfort that food brings to them.
“We want to make sure that when people come in, they feel at home,” Pulido said.
While working as a chef for the past decade throughout the Los Angeles area, Pulido was always on the hunt for a good chorizo breakfast burrito to match the ones he remembers eating, but he never found one that satisfied.
“I’ve moved all over Los Angeles and have not always been able to find the chorizo that I wanted to eat, so I learned how to just make it myself,” Pulido said.
Pulido makes two types of chorizo using hand-mixed spice blends: a red one made with pork and a green one made with chicken, but it’s not just the chorizo that’s made in-house; from the tortillas to the drinks, everything on Masa y Taza’s menu is personally crafted using fresh ingredients.
“We really think that we can do food that’s really good, that’s quality, that’s made by hand, and it doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg,” Pulido said.
Their burritos range from $14 for the chorizo, which also includes eggs, refried beans, potatoes and cheese, to $21 for the ranchero burrito, which includes a choice of meat, eggs, potatoes, cheese, guacamole and sour cream. They’re also serving up café de olla, a traditional Mexican coffee brewed with cinnamon.
Beck and Pulido — who met in school and have known each other for 30 years — are both from Whittier, but they spent so much time in Long Beach while growing up that they consider it a second home. With their connections here, it’s where they knew they wanted to open.
“We wanted to feed our people,” Pulido said. And it appears to be working.
According to Beck, a Cal State Long Beach graduate, in just the couple of weeks they’ve been open, they have already had returning customers.
“I’ve had a couple people tell me, and obviously this is all accolades for the chef, ‘It’s the best breakfast burrito I’ve ever had,’” Beck said. “That’s so amazing to hear.”
Someday, the pair hopes Masa y Taza will be a well-known name, but they have to get started first.
“We’re still moving in,” Beck said.
Masa y Taza will celebrate its grand opening on Saturday, Dec. 13.
Masa y Taza, 1538 E 4th Street, is currently open Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Saturday through Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.